Iran offers to dilute enriched uranium in exchange for full sanctions relief

Iran says it could dilute its 60% uranium stockpile if all US sanctions end, amid renewed Oman talks and uncertainty over missing nuclear material.

Iran is prepared to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium if the United States lifts all sanctions on the country, the head of its atomic energy agency said on Monday following indirect talks with Washington.Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, said the possibility of diluting 60% enriched uranium "depends on whether all sanctions would be lifted in return", according to the official IRNA news agency.The statement did not specify whether Eslami was referring to all international sanctions on Iran or only those imposed by the United States.The offer comes as the whereabouts of more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium Iran possessed before last year's conflict with Israel and the US remains unknown.UN nuclear inspectors last recorded the location of the uranium on 10 June, three days before Israel launched strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.The stockpile is enough to produce nine nuclear weapons if further enriched to 90% weapons-grade levels, according to a May 2025 International Atomic Energy Agency report.Nuclear programme damaged in June strikesBefore Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities in June last year, Iran had been enriching uranium to 60% — far exceeding the 3.67% limit allowed under the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers.Israel attacked dozens of Iranian nuclear facilities, military bases and infrastructure installations on 13 June 2025, followed by US strikes on the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities on 22 June using bunker-buster bombs.The strikes severely damaged Iran's enrichment capabilities. However, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has said Tehran could resume uranium enrichment within months.Diluting uranium involves mixing it with blend material to reduce the enrichment level below a specified threshold.Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapons state enriching uranium to 60%, according to the IAEA.Indirect talks to resume after Oman meetingEslami's statement followed indirect talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman last Friday, the first negotiations since the June conflict.Both sides agreed to continue negotiations. However, Araghchi warned that "the mistrust that has developed is a serious challenge".US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for Iran to accept a total ban on uranium enrichment, a condition unacceptable to Tehran and far less favourable than the 2015 agreement.Iran maintains it has a right to a civilian nuclear programme under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which 191 countries are signatories.Western countries, led by the US, suspect the Islamic Republic is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a claim Iran has consistently denied.